January 23, 2009
Cast: Emraan Hashmi, Kangana Ranaut, Adhyayan Suman
Director: Mohit Suri
There’s a scene in Raaz: The Mystery Continues where Kangana Ranaut’s character, a model, has finally come to terms with the fact that she’s being harrassed by evil spirits. “I want my life back,” she hollers.
“And I want my three hours back,” you respond instantly.
Directed by Mohit Suri, Raaz: The Mystery Continues is a painfully pointless picture in the guise of a spine-chilling spook-fest. It’s neither a sequel nor a remake of the earlier “Raaz” starring Dino Morea and Bipasha Basu, directed by Vikram Bhatt in 2002.
This one stars Ranaut and Adhyayan Suman as a young unmarried couple who’ve recently moved into a plush new flat when strange things begin to happen to her. Emraan Hashmi plays a painter — who if you ask me, looks more like a pimp in crotch-tight jeans, body-hugging T-shirts, and eye-liner — who stalks Kangana when he finds his head and his canvas filled with images of horrific things that will happen to her.
In a plot more flimsy than any of Kangana’s outfits, Emraan helps Kangana get to the bottom of the mystery, and finds himself intrinsically connected to this sordid saga too.
Director Mohit Suri uses his camera effectively and throws in mood lighting to create a sense of tension — as if something big and bad is just about to happen. Problem is, apart from a few stale gimmicks borrowed from a bunch of Hollywood films — nothing really happens in this film at all.
It’s difficult to make a good scary movie these days, but Raaz: The Mystery Continues barely even makes an effort. At a running time of close to three hours, this is an opportunity wasted. Even the usually dependable Kangana Ranaut repeats her psycho-act for the nth time and fails to bring anything new.
Raaz is technically competent — the special effects are decent, the camera moves smartly, but it loses steam way too early and drags its feet from then on.
I’m going with two out of five, just about, for director Mohit Suri’s Raaz: The Mystery Continues, the mystery referred to in the film’s title is that there isn’t any. Watch it if you have time to waste.
(This review first aired on CNN-IBN)